Inside, you will find a summary of market activity and our market outlook.
Global markets finished positive in Q2, while Emerging Markets (EM) ended Q2 slightly positive. Despite better than expected economic data and a rather impressive bounce off October 2022’s market low, this bull market features a classic “wall of worry”—a barrage of investor fears that tamps down sentiment as equities climb higher. Nearly nine months from equities’ low, today’s wide gulf between sentiment and reality reflects a classic early bull market feature. Ultimately, as we enter 2023’s back half, we expect investor fears to continue fading away as we believe the new bull market has ample room to grow and surprise to the upside.
A New Bull Market is Underway: Global equity markets’ significant rebound since last October’s low, coupled with better than expected economic data, lead us to believe we are in a new bull market cycle.
Ongoing Investor Fears Support New Bull: Excessively dour sentiment, driven by fears of inflation, global recession, narrow market breadth and a variety of other factors has significantly lowered investor expectations, creating space for the new bull market to continue.
Political Drivers are a Tailwind for Global Markets: The combination of the third year of a US president’s term, which has historically had the highest frequency of positive returns of the four-year cycle, and calmer global politics in 2023 provides a positive environment for the new bull market.
Investing in stock markets involves the risk of loss and there is no guarantee that all or any capital invested will be repaid. Past performance neither guarantees nor reliably indicates future performance.
Fisher Investments Australasia offers a variety of Global, Non-US, and US Equity strategies for institutional investors. FIA delegates portfolio management to its parent company, Fisher Investments, a money management firm in the US founded in 1979 by investment guru Ken Fisher. Today, Fisher Investments and its affiliates oversee more than $406 billion* in assets for over 150,000 clients globally.* Founder Ken Fisher’s “Portfolio Strategy” column for Forbes ran from 1984 through 2016, making him the longest continually running columnist in the magazine’s 90+ year history. He has also authored several New York Times bestsellers on finance and investing. (*As of 31/03/2024)
For your reference, Fisher Investments Australasia is an investment manager located in Sydney. The parent company, Fisher Investments, is based in the United States, and manages assets for large institutional clients around the world.